Familiarity with information and data handling methods and techniques is characteristic of practitioners in the art and is presumed of the reader. At the present time, many people are familiar with accessing information over a data network. The WWW is a public data network that is becoming increasingly used for accessing multi-media information. This information can be one-way, passively experienced information, or mo-way information including two-way text, audio, or video data.
At the present time, there is a desire to enrich the user experience. One particular aspect of typical WWW interactions is that interactions take place within the confines of an application, such as a browser. In order to access the information, a user must be at a computer system with a particular type of application for user access. Generally, an interactive application is limited to a particular platform, such as a particular operating system or information handling device.
The Internet comprises computers and computer networks that are interconnected through communication links. The interconnected computers exchange information using various services, such as electronic mail, ftp, the World Wide Web (“WWW”), and other services including secure services. The WWW service can be understood as allowing a server computer system (e.g., a Web server or a Web site) to send Web pages of information to a remote client computer system. The remote client computer system can then display the Web pages. Generally, each resource (e.g., computer or Web page) of the WWW is uniquely identifiable by a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). To view a specific Web page, a client computer system specifies the URL for that Web page in a request. The request is forwarded to the Web server that supports that Web page. When that Web server receives the request, it sends that Web page to the client computer system. When the client computer system receives that Web page, it typically displays the Web page using a browser. A browser is a special-purpose application program that effects the requesting of Web pages and the displaying of Web pages.
Currently, Web pages are typically defined using a Hyper Text Markup Language (“HTML”) or similar language. HTML provides a standard set of tags that define how a Web page is to be displayed. When a user indicates to the browser to display a Web page, the browser sends a request to the server computer system to transfer to the client computer system an HTML document that defines the Web page. When the requested HTML document is received by the client computer system, the browser displays the Web page as defined by the HTML document. The HTML document contains various tags that control the displaying of text, graphics, controls, and other features. The HTML document may contain URLs of other Web pages available on that server computer system or other server computer systems.
The World Wide Web is especially conducive to providing information services over the internet. Services can include items (e.g., music or stock quotes) that are delivered electronically to a purchaser over the Internet. Services can also include handling orders for items (e.g., groceries, books, or chemical or biologic compounds, etc.) that may be delivered through conventional distribution channels (e.g., a common carrier). Services may also include handling orders for items, such as airline or theater reservations, that a purchaser accesses at a later time. A server computer system may provide an electronic version of an interface that lists items or services that are available.